FRANCHISE BROKER’S ASSOCIATION

FRANCHISE DEVELOPMENT CONTEST

OFFICIAL RULES, TERMS AND CONDITIONS 

1. Agreement to Official Rules, Terms and Conditions.  Participation in the Franchise Development Contest constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules, Terms and Conditions.  The Contest is sponsored by the Franchise Broker’s Association, Inc. (“Sponsor”).  There is no purchase necessary to enter this Contest.  THIS CONTEST IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. 

2. Eligibility.  The Contest is only open to legal United States Residents eighteen (18) years of age and older.  Age and citizenship will be verified at the time of award.  Employees, agents, representatives and independent sales representatives of the Sponsor and their immediate family (defined as parents, children, stepchildren, siblings and spouses), together with those persons with whom such employees, agents and representatives are domiciled are not eligible.  Entries are limited to one entry per person. All information provided by the participant (“Participant”) must be true and correct or entry will be forfeited. 

3. To Enter.  No purchase is necessary.  You may enter by sending a completed official application  the Sponsor at Franchise Broker’s Association, c/o Eric Riess, 10 South Broadway, Suite 2000, St. Louis, Missouri  63102 or scanning a completed official application and sending it via email to e.Riess@FranchiseBA.com.  All entries must be received before Friday, September 6, 2010.

4. Sponsor and its officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives are not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, damaged, illegible, or misdirected mail or email, for failed, partial, or garbled computer transmissions or for technical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to electronic malfunctioning of any network, hardware or software or by any human error that may occur in the processing of any entries or for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by web site users or tampering or hacking or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest.  For purposes of the Contest only, every person and every entity providing services or products to the Winner as part of the Contest prize shall be considered a “representative” of Sponsor.

5. Contest Period.  The Contest Period begins June 1, 2010 and ends September 6, 2010.  The Sponsor will award one prize on or before October 20, 2010.    Sponsor reserves the right to terminate the Contest at any time, for any reason.  All work in connection with the prize awarded will be performed in the State of Missouri, USA as that is where each of Sponsor’s representatives who or which shall be providing services or products to the Winner as part of the Contest prize are physically located.

6. Winner.  The entrant selected as the winner (“Winner”) must comply with all of these Official Rules, Terms and Conditions.  There shall be only one Winner selected from the pool of qualified entry submissions.  If for any reason a Winner cannot be reached after reasonable attempts or the Winner is found not to be eligible or in compliance with these Official Rules, Terms and Conditions, then an alternative Winner may be selected from all remaining entries.  The Winner grants to Sponsor and each of its representatives the world-wide, royalty free, fully paid right to use their name and likeness for advertising, publicity, promotion and any other purpose without any additional compensation. The Winner will be encouraged to participate in Sponsor’s Annual Convention in October of 2010 in Orlando, Florida (at Winner’s expense) and if the Winner attends same (at Winner’s election) will be featured and introduced to Sponsor’s members in attendance at that event.

7. Prizes and Odds of Winning.  One prize will be given away as determined by the Sponsor.  The prize is detailed more fully on the official Contest Announcement.  Odds of winning depend on the total number of eligible entries received and on Sponsor’s or its representatives’ sole determination of the franchiseability of each Participant’s concept.  No cash or other substitution or transfer of prizes permitted except by Sponsor, who reserves the right to substitute a different prize of equal or greater value.  PRIZES ARE AWARDED “AS IS” AND NEITHER SPONSOR NOR ANY OF ITS REPRESENTATIVES PROVIDE ANY REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, PROMISES OR GUARANTEES, WHETHER IMPLIED OR EXPRESS, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, REPRESENTATIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A SPECIFIC USE, IN CONNECTION WITH THE PRIZE.  Selection will be determined by franchiseability of an applicant’s concept as solely determined by Sponsor or its representatives.  The Winner will be notified by email, telephone, overnight carrier, or regular mail. 

8. Laws, Taxes and Release.  All applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply.  VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.  All taxes, fees and surcharges on prizes are the sole responsibility of Winner.  Return or rejection of any prize or prize notification as undeliverable may result in the disqualification of Winner and the selection of an alternate.  By accepting these Official Rules, Terms and Conditions, PARTICIPANT RELEASES, DISCHARGES AND AGREES TO HOLD HARMLESS SPONSOR, AND ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, SHAREHOLDERS, REPRESENTATIVES AND AGENTS FROM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY FOR ANY INJURIES, LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND TO PERSON, INCLUDING DEATH, AND TO PROPERTY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, FROM ACCEPTANCE, POSSESSION, USE OR MISUSE OF A PRIZE, PARTICIPATION IN ANY CONTEST RELATED ACTIVITY OR PARTICIPATION IN THIS CONTEST.    Entrant agrees that all decisions of the Sponsor and its representatives are final and conclusive in all matters relating to the administration of the Contest and the determination of Winners.  Entrant further agrees that (a) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, or any prizes awarded, other than the administration of the Contest or the determination of winners shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri; (b) any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out of pocket costs incurred in entering this Contest, but in no event attorneys’ fees; and (c) under no circumstances will entrant be permitted to obtain awards for and each entrant hereby waives all rights to claim punitive, incidental and consequential damages, other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses as described above, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased.  All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, Terms and Conditions, or the rights and obligations of the Participant and Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Missouri, without giving any effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions (whether of the State of Missouri or of any other jurisdiction).

      Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual or entity it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or web site; to be in violation of these Official Rules, Terms and Conditions or the terms and conditions of the web site or to be acting in a non-sportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person.  In the event of a dispute as to entries submitted by multiple users having the same email account, the authorized subscriber of the email account used to enter the Contest at the actual time of entry will be deemed to be the Participant and must comply with these Official Rules, Terms and Conditions.  Authorized account subscriber is deemed to be the natural person who is assigned an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization which is responsible for assigning email addresses or the domain associated with the email address.

      NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, IN NO EVENT WILL SPONSOR OR ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES OR AGENTS BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SPONSOR’S OR ANY REPRESENTATIVES’ INTERNET SITE OR THE DOWNLOADING FROM AND/OR PRINTING MATERIAL FROM SAID SITE.  WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, EVERYTHING ON THIS SITE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.  SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW ALL OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS.  CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS FOR ANY RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS ON THESE LIMITATIONS.

9. Winner.  To obtain the name of the Winner, send a written request along with a self-addressed stamped envelope to Franchise Broker’s Association, c/o Eric Riess, 10 South Broadway, Suite 2000, St. Louis, Missouri  63102, after October 20, 2010.

10. Interpretation.  The headings and titles of each section of these Official Rules, Terms and Conditions are for convenience only and have no effect on the meaning of the content of each Section.